At the beginning of the twentieth century, most Canadians lived under conditions that we would now think of as extreme poverty. Less than 10% of homes had flush toilets or central heating; even fewer had electricity, and almost nobody had a car, let alone a washing machine or modern electrical air conditioning, which did not arrive in homes until the 1920s.
Economic growth is the growing ability of the economy to produce goods and services.
Such comparisons are a stark reminder of how much our lives have been changed by economic growth, the growing ability of the economy to produce goods and services. Why does the economy grow over time? And why does economic growth occur faster in some times and places than in others? These are key questions for economics because economic growth is a good thing, as those shoppers on Spring Garden Road can attest, and most of us want more of it.